Posts
From my inbox...
On Wednesday, I introduced the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Act of 2007 to require the Department of Defense to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within 120 days after my bill has been signed into law. In the wake of human rights abuses, leaders from both parties have agreed that the continued operation of this military prison has damaged America's reputation and impeded efforts to fight terrorism.By continuing to isolate detainees on Guantanamo Bay without bringing charges against them, we have forfeited our moral leadership and hindered our ability to rally support in our fight against terrorism. Closing this facility is our single best opportunity to rally our allies in a more effective fight against terrorism and reduce the risk to Americans traveling abroad.
Under the bill I have introduced, the Administration would be required to at long last resolve the legal status of the 386 prisoners currently held at Guantanamo Bay. Those that the Administration intends to charge with a crime or an offense under the Military Commissions Act would be transferred to the United States Detention Base at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, a state-of-the-art, maximum security facility. Those that the Administration does not intend to charge with a crime or an offense would be returned to the custody of their home country or, where necessary, returned to a country where they do not face torture.
However, right-wing extremists such as presidential candidate Mitt Romney not only want to keep Guantanamo Bay open-they want to expand it. I firmly believe that this is the wrong course of action and it will only further damage our reputation and our ability to win the war on terror.
1 comment:
What part of international law, specifically supports the position you have taken?
Why should we have to charge these people with crimes? How on earth could civil courts be used to try these monsters? What would be the burden of discovery.
Do you have any concept of how the adversary system of justice could be manipulated? Believe me, I have seen the tip of the iceberg. You know lawywers have already been convicted of being couriers for terrorists.
A Democrat Supreme Court Justice once opined that the Constitution is not a suicide pact. Every law presupposes the continued existence of the nation state as its ultimate object.
That's a very ancient legal principle that the utopian position you advocate.
Post a Comment